Navy probes lewd videos shown on deployed carrier

Norfolk, Jan 03 (Agencies): A former Top Gun pilot told his aircraft carrier crew that he had heard complaints about his past homemade videos, but went on to broadcast lewd videos aboard the ship.

The Navy said on Sunday it will investigate the "clearly inappropriate" videos shown through the nuclear-powered ship's closed-circuit televsion system.

The star of the videos, made in 2006 and 2007, is Capt Owen Honors, who now commands the USS Enterprise but was its executive officer—the second in command—when the videos were made.

The Norfolk-based Enterprise was deployed in the Middle East at the time the videos were made and is weeks from deploying again.

The Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported on the videos in its Sunday editions and posted an edited version of one video on its website.

It's not immediately known why the images are surfacing now. The Virginian-Pilot quoted anonymous crew members who said they raised concerns aboard the ship about the videos when they aired, but they were brushed off.

It's clear from the videos that Honors, who took over the ship's command in May, had already gotten complaints when some of them were made.

"Over the years I've gotten several complaints about inappropriate material during these videos, never to me personally but, gutlessly, through other channels," he said in the introduction to the video posted by the newspaper.

In the same segment, Honors uses a derogatory term for gays.

Next comes a sequence of what appear to be outtakes in which Honors and others curse, followed by clips in which he and others are shown making vulgar motion.

Next are shown clips of pairs of women and a pair of men pretending to shower together.Navy Cmdr Chris Sims said in a statement that the videos "were not acceptable then and are not acceptable in today's Navy."

Executive officers and other leaders "are charged to lead by example and are held accountable for setting the proper tone and upholding the standards of honour, courage and commitment that we expect sailors to exemplify”, he said.

Sims said US Fleet Forces Command "has initiated an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the production of these videos."

"It is unfortunate that copies of these videos remained accessible to crewmembers, especially after leadership took action approximately four years ago to ensure any future videos reflected the proper tone," the Navy said.

It also said the videos "were intended to be humorous skits focusing the crew's attention on specific issues such as port visits, traffic safety, water conservation, ship cleanliness, etc."

A phone listing for Honors was not immediately available. He is a 1983 alumnus of the US Naval Academy and was a naval aviator before holding command. He attended the US Naval Fighter Weapons School, also known as Top Gun.

The newspaper reported that the videos were made during the Enterprise's two six-month deployments to the Middle East in 2006 and 2007.

Commissioned in 1961, the Enterprise is the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. It is scheduled to sail two more deployments before it is decommissioned in 2013. It can carry a crew of more than 5,800.

The commanding officer of the Enterprise at the time the videos were made, Lawrence Rice, was later promoted to the rank of the rear admiral and had been assigned to the Norfolk-based US Joint Forces Command, but is no longer there, a spokeswoman said.